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Matthew Maddox

Matthew Maddox

U.S. District Judge for the District of Maryland

Appears in 1 story

Stories

Trump’s unitary-executive showdown with independent agencies

Rule Changes

Ruled Trump’s firing of three CPSC commissioners unlawful before Supreme Court reversal

In 2025, President Donald Trump launched an aggressive campaign to assert sweeping authority over independent federal agencies, testing the long‑standing 1935 Supreme Court precedent in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States that limited presidential power to fire members of multi‑member regulatory commissions. After the Supreme Court used its emergency docket to let Trump remove Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the conflict escalated when Trump fired Democratic Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter in March 2025 and later attempted to oust Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, both before their fixed terms expired.

Updated Dec 11, 2025